Life on the Road

(Yeah, it’s only Day 2 for me, but I thought it would make more sense to use the same numbers Crystal has going over on Biblical Womanhood, where she’s hosting this!) 

1. Refresh Your Spirit

I am SO thankful!  This one was easy today:

• My darling husband… up before the roosters and off walking to work in the pitch dark.  The Lord has truly blessed my kids and I in him.
• Baby Blessing.  As I feel her(?) moving more and more, I’m just feeling all over again the warm feelings of gratitude I felt with Jewel.  For 10 years after Nick, I was trying to adapt to the idea that the Lord might not give me any more children.  Now here I am with a whole new “brood” later in life…  His time.
• Technology!  The German Baptist family that runs Knaus Berry Farm doesn’t believe in the Internet… but we decided that didn’t have to stop us from giving them a hand!  We’re posting the daily offerings at the bakery on the Knaus Berry Farm Menu Blog!

Busted!  I actually got dressed first thing, but didn’t finish getting ready, or get Jewel dressed, before I sat down here.  Time out!

2. Take Time to Plan

I already had today’s “to do” list made up, as we have to drive up to the Miami area for some errands, which will take most of the day.  A couple of phone calls to straighten out the many inevitable messes of life, a bank deposit, and I’m done!

Luckily, dinner is easy.  On Wednesdays before the evening activities begin, our church does a pot luck.  Wolf’s bringing some cinnamon rolls home from the bakery for our offering, so all I have to do is show up!  Woohoo!

3. Do Something!

Laundry is trickier…  I’m trying to use the dryer less, after discovering the outrageous cost of not having gas applicances (and no option to do so, short of installing a big propane tank outside!).  The laundry is never totally “done,” since there is limited drying space.  I will, however, make my goal today to get “caught up” and back on track!

Happy Homemaking!

This is a terrific idea!  Many thanks to Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood for this encouragement.

I’m sorry I missed the first day - I already have some catching up to do!  I really relate to Crystal’s explanation:

I hope some of you will join me in this challenge, but more importantly, I know that I need the challenge. Things have been a little out of order here the last few months with travels, sickness, and my husband starting his own law firm… and our home has reflected this. So I’m hopeful that the next two weeks I can focus on getting things back into order here so that our home can become more of a haven of refreshment to my family and all those who would enter its doors.

Not that my husband started his own law firm…  But we did just move across country, pull all our stuff out of storage, he started a new job, and I’m getting more and more pregnant-looking and -feeling all the time!

* * * *

So, here’s my plan for Making My Home a Haven Today:

1. Refresh Your Spirit

Since it’s uncomfortably hot and humid here already, I’m going to pass on the cup of tea.  I think I’ll go for a nice, tall glass of cold water with my Bible reading.  I’m not in the process of reading through anything in particular, so today I’ll pick a spot to start my mornings with for the next little while.

2. Planning

I’m going to do yesterday’s assignment and solidify a morning routine.  I have a tendency to stay in my p.j.’s until necessity forces me to get dressed.  I can cook and clean and take care of the kiddos just fine in p.j.’s, and it’s more comfy, right?  I have really been letting the heat control me, and I need to break out of that habit.  I think I will be more energetic and motivated if I shower and dress first thing, although I may not follow the FlyLady ideal of putting shoes on - the heat still controls some things! 

3. Do Something

Luckily for me, yesterday’s “entryway” and today’s “living room” are really the same, as our tiny house dumps you right into the middle of things.  I intend to get out the Christmas music to play while I’m doing this…  We’ve all felt a little “holiday spirit” challenged around here because of the weather, and I want to start actively combating that.

 * * * *

There’s my commitment for today.  Now I’d better get off the computer and get to it! 

Care to join me?

Imagine every stereotype of a dweeby little guy who sells mobile phones for a living.  Blue color family, bad teeth, overweight, the whole nine yards.

I bet most people write him off on sight.  As a Christian, I know I shouldn’t, but it’s a very human habit that’s hard to overcome.

Hopefully we will all think a little harder about making those kind of judgements after we see this video.

Wow!

Great reminder, eh?

The Bible tells us that Paul was a pretty homely little man, and not a great speaker, even - and look what he accomplished…  Beauty in God’s eyes really, truly comes from within.

You know, Thanksgiving has come and gone… and I never did stop for Thanks Giving.

Getting up at 4 am to drive Nick to the airport, then spending the holiday with just an exhausted hubby and a cranky two year old just someone didn’t resonate the same way things have in years past.

I did cook a turkey breast, and did candied yams with marshmallows, and Wolf brought home some of the delicious pies and dinner rools from the BerryFarm - so it isn’t that we didn’t do ANYTHING.  I just don’t know that we FELT anything.  Pretty weird…

But I truly am thankful.  God has blessed us so very much - and this aside from the “big picture” gifts, like Jesus! 

• The incredible leading that started with selling our home in Arizona, through 8 months in an RV, through meeting friends in Ohio who led us to this opportunity in Florida…  Wow!
• My husband, my hero always!
• My handsome son, my baby who is becoming a man.  That little shadow of moustache, his voice…  Yikes!  And tomorrow he starts playing his clarinet with the “Cross Winds” group at the main service at our new church home (First Baptist Church of Homestead).  Wow!
• My beautiful Jewel.  She talks so much, and has such a personality!  I treasure the gift that God has given us in having her.
• Baby Blessing.  I thought Nick would be an only child, now he’s going to have TWO siblings!
• Our four rescued kittens, even though they drive me nuts.
• The longevity of our two old lady cats.  I’m just not up to grieving right now, so I am very grateful that they are staying healthy.
• Family and friends, even though most of them are distant.  I’m so happy Wolf’s brother is coming for a short visit in two weeks, and my mom and sister are coming for Christmas!
• A loving midwife practice to help us bring Baby Blessing into the world joyfully.
• The delicious goodies from Knaus Berry Farm! 
• The entire extended Knaus family, and the warm heart of Mr. Herb, in particular, who Jewel adores, and has done so much to help us feel welcome and at home here.

I really could go on, but I think those are the “biggest” ones on my heart right now. 

Any day is a good day for an Attitude of Gratitude!

This was sent to me as an email attachment, and I was delighted to be able to find it on YouTube and share it with you.

The original email said:

Pump up the volume!!!

The song you are about to listen to is from a Las Vegas Diamond Rio concert. They received an immediate resounding standing ovation, and continue to do so every time they perform it! Everyone who loves America should be thrilled to hear this song!

Although Diamond Rio has never before done a statement song, they felt compelled to record ‘In God We Still Trust.’ But guess what?

Sadly, major radio stations wouldn’t play it because it was considered ‘politically incorrect’. Consequently, the song was never released to the public.

So America , see what you think. If this offering speaks to your heart and you feel to share it with friends and loved ones, please do..

I can’t seem to get the video to show up in the post.  Grrr…  So here’s the links.  There are actually two different slide shows that I’ve found, set to the same song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiYgpPB1kwU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVcoQcdjrsA

Here’s another goody that I can across in my recent web surfing: K-12 Free Homeschool.

They offer

The same core curriculum courses that are offered elsewhere at $250 - $500 per school year are tuition-free. Optional electives are offered at 25%-50% of standard tuition.  Here’s how it can be tuition-free … They call it a “community-sponsored online home school academy.”  Essentially, it is paid for by corporate and non-profit sponsors as well as donations by parents who use the services - a concept the creators say has never been tried before.

Like any good online program, this is very flexible, and can be adapted for home school students with a variety of learning styles. You can mix and match grade levels, adjust your schedule to fit your life, allow your student to work ahead or take extra time to focus on specific subject matter, etc.

Crucial to me:  Their courses reflect Biblical truth because they have been written by curriculum developers from a Biblical world-view.

They’ve also got some great extra features (free) like an online grade book, transcripts, and parent/teacher Message Boards (get suggestions and support from other home school parents as well as their academic advisors).

Enrollments are limited right now because it is still in beta-testing.  Applicants may be placed on a “Waiting List,” but they say they will usually only have to wait 2-5 days for a space to open. (Open spaces are dependent on donations and sponsorships received.)

Here’s where to find the K-12FreeHomeschool.org Course Catalog.

Who says modest clothes can’t be fun?

I was delighted to discover a new place to get things made for Jewel and I (and her baby doll!): Holy Hillbilly Creations. 

The first things we got were some sample products, which we’ve been having a blast with: cloth diapers (with Velcro) for baby dolls, and cloth baby wipes / washcloths.  They were SO nicely made that I figured I needed to go look at her site more carefully!

Rachel custom makes everything to order, and was patient with my long list of special requests.  She even designed pockets for Jewel to keep her pennies in (which are now a permanent option on her skirts).

Here’s Jewel in the adorable camo skirt we designed to match her cool new camo sneakers.  I love that the pockets are opposite colors, and the lace is such a cute “girl-izing” touch.

And here are Jewel and her baby in their matching Red, White and Blue skirts (aren’t those heart pockets great?).  So much fun it makes you jump for joy!

Did I mention how inexpensive this was?  I don’t see how she can do it for those prices…

And a special thank you to Rachel for her thoughtfulness.  She included a penny for each pocket, since in all our conversations she learned that was why we needed the paockets added!  How sweet!

Just an advance warning that there may be some periodic downtime over the next couple of days as this domain is migrated over to a new hosting provider.  Unfortunately, time constraints do not permit me to do this in a more orderly fashion.  Read on… 

I’m not one to call people out in public, but I do think the public deserves to know when a company is behaving badly.

For the last couple of years, my websites have all been hosted at Angel Towns.  Although there is not a lot said about, they appear to be a Christian company - Bible verse on the homepage, restrictions about your site content, etc.  And best of all - Cheap! 

So, as I say, things have been going smoothly for a couple of years now.  I have a few minor complaints about the ease (or lack) of using certain features, but I always figured that was part of the price I paid, for the price I paid… if you know what I mean.

Then earlier this week I got an error when I tried to upload a photo to a post I ws writing about Jewel’s First Haircut (very cute!).  After tracking it down in the WordPress Support Forums, I concluded that it must be a PHP Memory limitation on my server.

I logged into my cPanel and checked, and sure enough there was an 8 MB limit there (just as the Forum users suggested), and it was not configurable on the user side.  Immediately I emailed Angel Towns Support, asking why this limit had suddenly appeared, and requesting that it be raised or removed.

The email I got back was probably a form letter, and it explained that the 8 MB limit had been placed on all hosting accounts “as a temporary measure,” and it would be removed “soon.”  Further inquiry yielded the clarification that it would probably be lifted in about two weeks.

Two weeks?!

I can’t post any photos larger than a thumbnail for two weeks?  Not only is that not acceptable for my personal posting, but I have a commitment to Guest Host a really great contest for a popular blog on Monday (make sure to check it out!).

So I emailed again, explained my predicament, and informed them that if they did not remove or raise the limit on my account (which I never agreed to when I signed up, BTW!) I would be forced to move my hosting business elsewhere - and fast.  Well, they never even responded…  Not good business practice, nor good Christian ethics.

I have begun the process of transferring the entire domain to a new provider.  1 & 1 has great features, great service (already used it!), and … Cheap! 

The move includes our business information page at http://www.tiffanyblitz.com, and two complete subdirectory installations of Wordpress which house this blog (http://www.tiffanyblitz.com/blog) and our sales team training website.  Whew!

Keep your fingers crossed that the process goes smoothly, and I’ll be ready for Monday’s BIG CONTEST POST!

Train up a child in the way he should go,
And when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6  

This isn’t the first time I’ve posted about Jewel’s adventures with “Church Babies”.  It seems to have more issues come up than we ever experience with the main church services, or Nick with the youth programs…  Why is that?

We’ve visited a local church for several Sundays now, and the service and youth programs seem pretty satisfying.  You can hear the “but” coming, right? 

As always, the first time in a new place, I stayed through the service in the nursery with Jewel.  I try to sit out of the way, and encourage her to engage rather than be with me, but I’m there if she needs me - which she does.

I was a little alarmed by the behavior that was going on in the room.  Kids were running around crazily, kids were throwing building blocks across the room, kids were destroying the doll stroller by riding in it themselves…  And when something got really out of control, the adult (or their teen “helper”) in charge would tell them to stop.  But it was pretty wild, and very noisy.

Jewel, my little easy-going child, is NOT wild, and NOT noisy — and was quite disturbed by it.  She hung out at the table with me and did puzzles.  She had a nice time, but it lacked the “playing with other kids your own age” benefit that is one of the main reasons we take her to nursery rather than just having her in the service with us.

The second week rolled around, and a different adult and teen were supervising.  But the result was much the same.  This time I discussed things with her a little more - carefully! - trying to feel the situation out.  She blamed it primarly on this specific week having been someone’s birthday, so the kids were loaded up with sugar from the snacks the mom brought.  (I didn’t see much difference from the previous week!). 

Week three, and it was reluctantly that I even took Jewel to nursery.  The mom of one of the biggest troublemakers was the adult in charge, so I had high hopes.  Alas!  After the second child was injured (luckily nothing really serious, but…), I took Jewel out and we joined Wolf and Nick in the main service.

Church members and staff (including the nursery director) that we discussed the situation with had answers that were equally troubling:

• “Our kids all grew up together, so this is like their second home.”  Wow - you mean you let them act like that at home?
• “They just sat through Sunday School for an hour, so this is free play time, and they need to burn off their energy.”  In a steel-cage death match?
• “You know, some of the neighborhood kids come, so they’re not being raised in a Christian environment…”  True, doubtless - but the two worst offenders are the children of church staff.
• “We have a lot of toruble getting volunteers.  We don’t want to ask to much of them, or we won’t have any!”  I don’t even know how to respond to that.  We will tolerate disrespect and disobedience in our children, for the sake of convenience?

The nursery director, in addition to some of the above, said that I was welcome to keep her in service with me, of course, or that we could take her to the younger room, for infants and 1 year-olds.  As poorly as she fits in with the 2-3 crowd, I don’t think that would be a good answer, either.

Wolf and I have reached a few conclusions, a few theories, and a few more questions…

I think there is some amount of cultural/regional influence at play in the way children are expected to behave.  In Mississippi and elsewhere in the Deep South, children typically say “Yes, Sir” and “Yes, Ma’am.”  Here, although further South, we are actually in a more “California” environment, and child-centered households are quite normal, even in the Church.

We like the 2 and 3 Year Old Sunday School teacher, and the hour she has them they seem perfectly able to behave.  This leads us to think that (a) the children have not yet completely devolved into a Lord of the Flies scenario as you might guess from viewing them during nursery, and (b) maybe we should take her to Sunday School, then pull her out when they switch over to nursery. 

Personally, I think this typifies the way I see the Church as a whole drifting.  By now we’ve probably all heard the statistic that divorce is just as common in the Church as in the U.S. as a whole.  Last summer there were two pregnancies among “good” teens at our then-church.  Just look around next Sunday at what people are wearing  - do we show respect to the Lord when we enter his house in ratty jeans, mini-skirts, flip-flops, or with brazen cleavage?  A lot of compromise is accepted, and people just seem to shrug it off and say, “that’s just how the world today is.”  Have we forgotten that we are not to be conformed to the world, but transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2)?  I guess that’s a whole ‘nother soapbox… 

So what’s a concerned mama to do? 

I’d love to volunteer in the nursery, but with the little one on the way and not knowing how our situation here will be when Wolf starts working, I’m not ready to make that commitment.  And even if I did, the situation would still be an issue the other 80% of the time (or however many volunteers they have).

Do we just take her into service and look for social time elsewhere?  Leave her with the babies - and look for social time elsewhere?  Find a new church? 

From the book’s publishers:

Have you struggled to reconcile God’s vision of virtuous womanhood with worldly myths that marginalize and mock the role of the homemaker? Do you wrestle with cultural messages that demean the homemaker’s calling and exalt instead the emotionally androgynous power-woman — the wife whose worth is measured only by the degree of her ambition, the shape of her body, or her money-making skills? Such is the image of the “desperate housewife” that the modern media, culture, and feminism are promoting with great energy.

In a delightfully fresh and honest way, this book addresses these issues head-on and provides fresh vision for the hopeful homemaker. Hear a former “Christian” feminist share how she went from a die-hard homemaker-in-training to a dedicated career woman and then back again — after God gripped her heart. See the hollow counterfeit of whitewashed feminism and “me-ology” destroyed. And consider the beautiful picture painted in Scripture of the truly fulfilled homemaker who glories in the hopeful calling God created for her.

Pull up a chair, dust off the cookie crumbs, and join Jennie Chancey and Stacy McDonald as they lay aside stereotypes like the “Stepford wife” and dispel such myths as the 1950s “perfect homemaker.” Laughter and tears will flow, and hopefully you will be infused with a renewed vision for victory as a wife and mother. Discover what it means to be a passionate housewife “desperate” for God alone!

Sounds like a must-read  - I’m putting it on my TheThingsIWant.com wish list for Christmas…  

But you can also enter to win one of 10 copies that Crystal is giving away over that the Biblical Womanhood Blog.  Just leave a comment on her post to be entered!